A Tale of Two Wallaces
by Bobby South
Summary: Read Gromit's story of when Hutch came to stay at No. 62


Today began like a normal day: Getting up to get the newspaper and the post, pour the tea and put the bread in the toaster. Then, when Wallace wanted to get up, my next duty was to pull the lever down and watch my master get dressed. After that, I hit the jam button and the jam landed on the toast. After having his breakfast, he told me it was time for his inventing. That meant leaving me to tidy up.

Soon I put my feet up and read _The Lord of the Rings_ by J. R. R. Tolkien. Then a knock came through the door. As I got up, Wallace cried, "I'll get it, lad." So I sat down and listened to Wallace speaking.

"Totty!" greeted Wallace.

"Hello, Wallace," said the voice of Lady Tottingham.

"So what can I do for you?" asked Wallace.

"Well, I've got to go on a business trip to Asia and promote Animal Rights there," Lady Tottingham said. "And I can't leave Hutch all alone at the mansion. Could you look after him for two weeks?"  
>WHAT? As if serving Wallace wasn't bad enough, I will now have to serve Hutch too! When Lady Tottingham left, Hutch walked to the living room followed by Wallace.<p>

"Hey, lad, could you show Hutch to the guest room?" Wallace asked of me.

So up I went carrying Hutch's suitcase, but he wasn't with me. I went to my human master's bedroom and Hutch was tucked in bed, reading Wallace's cheesy magazines.

* * *

><p>Later, I went down to the workshop and gave Wallace a cup of tea and cheese on crackers. It looked like he was inventing some sort of cleaning equipment with two mechanic hands.<p>

"Oh, thanks, lad," smiled my master. "Look at this – Automatic Window Cleaners or AWC for short." He picked up his first cracker, but, as he was about to take the first bite, it was yanked out of his hand. We saw Hutch eating all the cheese on crackers and drinking all the tea. Then he walked to the invention and started fiddling with the invention.

"Gromit, get him off my invention!" ordered Wallace. He walked to the invention and tried to push Hutch away, but he wouldn't go.

"Gromit, get him off my invention!" repeated Hutch.

And I knew this was just the beginning.

Every day since then, it would be the same. When I get up in the morning, I would pull the lever to get Wallace up and he would get dressed up, but when it came to his green sweater, Hutch would sit on Wallace's legs and would take it. When I made breakfast, either porridge or toast, Hutch would be the one to eat it. Afterwards, Wallace would say, "Gromit, how about a boiled egg?" and Hutch would repeat, "Gromit, how about a boiled egg?"

And instead of relaxing and reading, Wallace ordered me to make sure that Hutch stayed out of his way whenever he was inventing. So I had to give Hutch his own inventing space and give him ideas of what he could invent, such as inventing a friendly-environment lorry, a washing machine that uses less water, a solar energy bar that can save energy and power the whole house for a year or a friendly-environment aeroplane.

Then when it came to do meals like lunch and dinner, I thought I had to make two of them – one for Wallace and one for Hutch – which proved to be a very good idea. "Hey, Gromit, while you're washing up, could you get me some cheesecake for dessert?" Wallace would ask afterwards. Hutch would repeat the same.

Then after the washing up, it was time for me to hit the hay, after a hard day's work. But after I tucked myself in, there is something I always have to, which I have to get out of bed to do it.

"GROMIT!" Wallace would cry from his room. I had to get up and go to Wallace's room and see him standing next to his bed. He can never go in, because Hutch was sleeping in it.

"Get him out, will you, lad?" Wallace would order me to do. And I would take Hutch out and put him in the guest room. But before I could go back to my bed, Hutch would cry, "GROMIT!" and would say, "Get him out, will you, lad?"

And I was would take Wallace to the guest room and at least he was kind enough to sleep in the guest room.

And all of this would go on and on and on every day. But after one week, Wallace began to have enough, not as enough as _I _had though. After Hutch told me to take Wallace away and we went in the guest room, Wallace told me his plan and I listened to it...

* * *

><p>The next morning, I did my usual jobs and I waited for Hutch to press the breakfast button. When he did, I pulled the lever down and he fell down on... the techno trousers.<p>

"It's the wrong trousers!" Hutch cried. "What have you done with the controls, Gromit?"

Then Hutch was walking out of the room. "Now, that'll do. Stop it! This isn't funny, Gromit!"

Hutch was out of the house and he was walking down the street. The techno trousers were being controlled by my master Wallace and he was controlling him from the living room. His plan so far was working perfectly. His plan was I could sit in the living room and watch and control Hutch while he was in town. I could relax and read at the same time, while Wallace could get to his inventing.

The only trouble was that after two hours, Hutch was not in the trousers. When I got Wallace up and showed him the screen, we quickly got into the motorcycle and drove off into town.

We drove and combed the town, but we couldn't find Hutch, even if we did have hairbrushes.

"What's Lady Tottingham going to say when she discovers we've lost her pet rabbit, lad?" asked a panicking Wallace.

More like sent her pet rabbit away, I thought, but I knew she wouldn't be happy. The

motorcycle unfortunately then flipped over and we were heading for a wall. When we crashed, I got out and felt all right but I saw Wallace lying on the ground, rubbing his head. I saw how it was the bike that crashed and how Wallace hit the wall like a bulls-eye!

* * *

><p>Soon I had Wallace transported to a nearby hospital. Soon, who should come to call but –<p>

"Totty!" cried Wallace.

"Wallace," smiled Totty.

Wallace felt so much pain that he couldn't take it anymore, even from hiding the truth.

"Listen, Totty, there's something I have to tell you," said Wallace. "About Hutch – "

"I know!" yelled Totty. "You've looked after him very well."

Then Hutch came in, flying a U.F.O. made of a Cadbury's tin.

"Because you taught him how to be an inventor," Totty continued, "my Animal Rights have won all over the world and the people will believe they can make it in this world. But it wasn't worth what nearly. I'm sorry, Wallace."

"That's all right," Wallace said kindly. "If it really will help animals, then I'm glad to have been part of it."  
>"Well, to make it up to you – " Lady Tottingham produced to Wallace's sore eyes a basket of cheese!<p>

I thought that was going to keep my master occupied until he gets better (the doctor said he must rest in bed for a whole fortnight), but two hours since I drove him back home and the basket was empty as a shell. Wallace would ring the bell and I would get him cups of tea, cheese on crackers and everything he wants. He would ring every half hour. When I try to read, Wallace would ring again and I would lose track that I would have to start at page one all over again. There was only one good bit in all of this: That Hutch isn't here to double the trouble!


End file.
